


this is not how it happens

by astrifer0us



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Gen, Karl and his timetravel shenanigans, Time Travel Fix-It, mostly from karl pov, this is written very rambly and poetic like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:15:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29352573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrifer0us/pseuds/astrifer0us
Summary: karl watches and feels something settle and click within him.this is how it goes.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 44





	this is not how it happens

**Author's Note:**

> hahaha what do you mean i have other fics to write on nooo-
> 
> heavily inspired by a comic on twitter by @TheElliPelli

he's seen it happen. distant, like a childhood memory, he sifts through the fog. the battle. fireworks, the blast of heat and the smell of gunpowder. he's trying to stop it, trying to help, but conscious fades in and out as he dies and respawns and dies again.

he's on the wrong side. he's on the right. he doesn't know. what side is he on? they come down the tower belting cries of rage and war and revolution. it's chaos here on the wooden planks of a yet untouched ~~l'~~ manburg.

a truce is called. a traitor revealed. a heart stopped.

it's all going wrong again.

he's lived this, this moment, for what feels like centuries. something about this moment, this point in time, keeps bringing him back. mouth try and tongue heavy and swollen, he watches boys trade titles. they're just boys, but they're called to lead.

he watches a rage unfurl, watches joy rise.

in the shadow of celebration and destruction, a brown coat slips away.

he has stood, passive and uncaring. has removed buttons, has killed before madness could creep in.

this time, he does things differently.

a tap on the shoulder, a careful whisper. 'wilbur,' he tells tommy, 'you should find wilbur.'

then, he goes to spawn.

\--

'i'm sorry, phil', he whispers as he places the last block of obsidian.

he's seen the timeline where phil flies to the room. where his wings shield his son from the blast he ignites. where he is forced to become a murderer.

here is what happens:

phil will in a flurry of feathers, trapped in a black box. he will curse, reaching for his communicator. 'wil,' he'll yell, 'wil, what are you doing?'

wilbur won't answer. wilbur will be staring at tommy, face streaked with tears and soot.

behind them, fireworks will be going off, an anarchy set alight.

'tommy,' wilbur will say, voice broken and cracked. 'i need to do this'.

'we won, wilbur,' tommy will say. 'we won, and now you're blowing it all to shit.'

a button will be pressed. two boys will emerge, scarred and burning, from the ruins of civilisation.

one will ask the other to kill him.

-

but here's what changes:

tommy is not a murderer in this story. he is filled with rage and grief and he holds wilbur until they're both shaking with it.

below, withers ravage the foundations of their victory.

in a room half collapsed, two brothers embrace until a father finds them, fists broken and bruised with obsidian grit crusted into wounds. he wraps around his sons and carries them to safety.

-

karl watches and feels something settle and click within him.

this is how it goes.

(a nation is rebuilt. what would have once been an empty and lonely house becomes boisterous and loud.

wilbur heals. the madness, the grief, it won't leave him, not really, but he can watch his son run around with his father and feel a warmth settle where debris lies.

fire will still smoulder. two anarchists will still meet in the cold tundra and reconnect. there will still be a puppetmaster behind the strings, toying with a forgetful hybrid.

but:

tommy will commit arson and take the fall. his father will take him into the snow and the blade will gain an apprentice. there will be visits from brother and friends, because wilbur will not make them forget.

they will remain a family, no matter the cost.)


End file.
